It’s not that it was a very exciting year…It’s not that it was a particularly fun year. In fact, it was a challenging year in many ways. 2011 did not turn out as I had hoped that it would. Apparently my soul had other ideas about what 2011 was going to bring me.
With that being said, today I am able to say “thank you” to myself; to my soul, for what I experienced in 2011. It was a year of intense inner work. It was a year of letting go of ego and the walls of self protection that I have built up over my lifetime. These experiences were intense and often very painful. I sought help when I felt that it was necessary, and I continued to be open to learning and experiencing more about who I am and letting go of old patterns and perceptions of who I thought I was, and who I had tried to be.
The good news is that I now have a much deeper understanding of who I am, and more importantly, who I am not.
I am able to look back over the last 12 months and be immensely grateful for what I learned about myself, and to all of the people who helped me to understand who I was pretending to be. From this perspective, I joyfully set my intentions for 2012 and beyond.
A friend wrote that we should imagine that it’s the last day of 2012, and that we should ask ourselves how we feel about the year gone by. Did we accomplish what we intended for ourselves? With great joy, I am able to say that I feel a sense of satisfaction, love and contentment as I imagine that last day of 2012. A smile emerges as I realize that the challenges of 2011 have helped me to free myself of so much of what no longer serves my highest good.
I say goodbye to 2011 with grace and gratitude, and I welcome 2012 with an open heart, ready to embark on the next phase of this journey called my life. The weight seems lighter already, and the feeling I carry inside is peaceful, loving and filled with trust; trust in myself. I offer a prayer of love, peace, prosperity and health to you in this new year, and always.
Peace,
Valerie
